Nut-lock



Patented Aug. 9, [898. J. KIRKWOOD.

N U T L 0 C K (Application filed Mar. 2, 1898.)

(N0 Model.)

INVENTOR ATTORNVEY lUNTTnn hTaTns I PATENT Tricia.

JOHN KIRKWOOD, ()F LENOX, MASSACHUSETTS.

NUT LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 608,872, dated August 9, 1898. Application filed March 2, 1 98. Serial No. 672,322. a. model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN KIRKWOOD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lenox, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Nut-Locks, of which the following is a specification. p

This invention relates to the class of locks for the nuts of fish-plate bolts and the like, wherein the locking is effected by elongating the locking-plate after it has been placed; and the object is to provide a simple and inexpensive device adapted to be used without washers with the ordinary nuts and to lock the entire set of nuts simultaneously. In this class of devices generally'the construction of the locking device has, so far as known, had some practical defect which prevented its use. In some case's the device has been too costly for generaladoption, in others the difficulty of applying them prevents their use, as the ordinary workman cannot be relied on to place them, and in other cases they require special nuts or other special devices. In view of these objections the purpose of the present invention has been to provide a simple device which may be applied by any one to the nuts in ordinary use and one which may be furnished at a trifling cost.

In the accompanying drawings an embodiment of my invention is illustrated as applied to a rail-joint having fish-plates with four bolts and nuts, two at each side of the joint.

Figure 1 is a side view showing the lockingplate applied. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on line :0 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side or face view, and Fig. a a plan or edge View, of the locking-plate as it appears before it is applied. Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate other ways of constructing the locking-flanges than those shown in the principal views.

In Figs. 1 and 2, R represents an ordinary T-railfor railways, with fish-plates P applied to the web of the rail, so as'to overlap the joint as. The bolts Z1 and nuts 91 are of the usual kind employed for such work. Usually such bolts are placed at equal distances between centers, and this distance is ordinarily four and three-fourths inches. The equal spacing of the bolts is an advantageous fea.

ture in the construction of this locking device.

A is the plate which forms the "nut-lock.

This plate may be a' thin strip of ordinary black sheet-iron or black sheet-steel without temper. I It may be about the width of the fish-plate P; but in any case it must be wide enough to permit of having cut in it apertures a of the proper size to allow the nuts TL topass through them. The strip or plate A will have a'bend ct formed in it at its middle part, and the apertures a will be so spaced as to pass over the nuts n in placing the plate for locking. Preferably the bend or bent portion a will be of such extent as to elongate the plate A about one-fourth of an inch when said bend is straightened or flattenedthat is, elongated one-eighth of an inch, or

nearly so, at each side of the center.

K It will be obvious that if the plate A be placed over the nuts and up against the fishplate P with the arch of the bend a outward and the said bend'be then flattened'down withablow of a hammer the plate will be elongated at both sides of the bend, the inner margin 668(15116 margin next the bend) of each aperture a being driven as a wedge in under the nut and between it and the fish-plate. Preferably the margin a will be driven under about one-eighth of an inch.

On the outer face of the plate A will be fixed or formed locking-flanges c, which are placed one adjacent to the margin a of each aperture a, sothat when the plate is elongated, as abovedescribed,they will be brought up firmly and simultaneously against the flat sides of the respective nuts 71, so that the lat ter cannot turn or unscrew. These flanges or stops 0 may be formed or affixed in various ways, as shown in the detail views. Forexam-= ple, in Figs. 2 and 3 the construction is into gral, the flange 0 being formed from the metal removed from the aperture a, the lip or margin a being formed of the metal doubled back upon itself. Fig. 5 shows also an integral construction where the flange c is formed of metal struck up from between the apertures a. I11 Fig. 6 the flange 0 is formed of an an gle-piece riveted onto the plate A.

In order to facilitate the removal of the lockingplate A, the bent portion a may be cut away at its edges, as seen at a Figs. 1 and l, so as to afford space for grasping it with a tool. The bend a is herein shown as a single curve; but it is not important that its shape be exactly as represented.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. A nut-lock comprising a thin plate of malleable sheet metal, having in it a series of apertures a, for the nuts to pass through, with thin margins a to wedge themselves under the nuts, and said plate having a bend a, at its middle and locking-flanges c on its outer face, substantially as set forth.

2. A nut-lock comprising a thin plate A of malleable metal, having in it a central bend a and four equally-spaced apertures a, two at each side of said bend, the said apertures having thin Wedgingmargins a to take under the respective nuts, and said plate having on its outer face adjacent to each of the margins a a locking-flange 0, adapted to be driven up to the face of the nut by the elongation of the plate A, substantially as set forth. I

3. A nut-lock comprising a thin plate of malleable metal, having in it apertures a for the passage of the nuts, a bend a at its middle, Which is to be flattened for elongating the plate, and integral locking-flanges 0, formed from the metal of the apertures a, the margins a being formed of a fold in the metal, substantially as set forth.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name, this 28th day of February, 1898, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

JOHN KIRKl/VOOD.

WVitnesses:

JAMES A. CAMPBELL, HARRY E. KENDALL. 

